Malaysia can go far in World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers - Irfan
BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Malaysia centre back Irfan Zakaria is of the belief that the potent blend of younger and more experienced players will help the Harimau Malaya go far in the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Malaysia's comfortable 7-1 first leg first play-off round win over Timor-Leste on Friday has put them in the driver's seat in the tie, and they look likely to advance to the first group stage.
When met by the press on Monday before training in preparation of the second leg, the Kuala Lumpur man praised the team's win, but highlighted the importance of keeping a clean sheet against the minnows in the second leg on Tuesday.
"Praise Allah for the comfortable first leg win, I hope we can maintain our focus in the next match to avoid conceding.
"We lost our concentration for a bit at the start of the second half (in the first leg) which led to us conceding," said the 24-year old former Malaysia U-23 star.
Irfan Zakaria. Photo by Asiana.my
Responding to a question by Goal, Irfan commented that the team has a chance to go far in the qualifiers.
"The current selection features quite a few [Malaysia] U-23 players as well as the more experienced guys, and to me this is the right combination; we now are being guided by the seniors. It's a different team this time around.
"If the team is guided to be in the right direction, God willing we can go far," he explained.
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